Mohammed Shafi, one of the accused in the Elanthoor ‘human sacrifice’ case, being produced at court, in Kochi. PTI
New Delhi: The mastermind in the Elanthoor double ‘human sacrifice’ case Mohammed Shafi had a bizarre obsession. He would injure the victims in the private parts and get excited at the sight of blood rushing out of the wounds of his victims before killing them as ‘human sacrifice’.
Confirming his modus operandi, Kochi City Police Commissioner H Nagaraju on Tuesday said that Shafi had in 2020 brutally raped a 75-year-old woman and made wounds in her private parts with a knife.
The Puthencruz police in Kochi had registered the first information report (FIR) in the case on 3 August, 2020, and filed the charge sheet on 17 October in the case.
“We have found out that the same places were injured in the two women who were murdered apparently as human sacrifice,” he added.
Shafi, a native of Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district, picked up women, mainly hapless and in distress who had no contact with their families, and lured them to his middle-class hotel in Kochi.
Police said that Shafi was a psychopath and a sexual pervert and derived sexual pleasures from from his actions and would go to any extent, even killing for it.
“He had been using a fake Facebook account wherein he had offered to help people facing financial problems. That’s how he befriended Bhagaval Singh, and his wife Laila. It took three years for him to win their confidence and trap them after which the crime took place,” said Nagaraju.
According to reports, Laila had said in her statement that Shafi made the couple cook the flesh from the bodies of the two women they had killed.
There are also reports that Shafi even had sex with Laila in front of her husband Bhagaval Singh, after convincing them that it was part of the ritual. He used to witness this act with folded hands as if in prayer, the reports added.
It has also been learnt that Shafi and Laila had a plan to eliminate Singh, fearing he would leak information about the murders.
It has also emerged that Shafi used fake social media account to get in touch with Bhagaval Singh.
He used a fake woman’s profile under the name Sreedevi and spoke highly about the healer and convinced Singh that he could bring him economic prosperity.
According to reports, Singh, while being taken into custody, was shocked to learn that the real Sreedevi was actually Shafi.
Married to Nabeesa, Shafi is the father of two girls and grandfather to a three-year-old girl. He did many jobs: from being a driver to a mechanic.
Nabeesa said, though he cannot be said to be innocent, she does not believe that he masterminded the crimes and committed ‘human sacrifice’.
She attributes his drinking habits to be the root cause of all his problems.
According to Nabeesa, Shafi was using her cellphone and Facebook account as well.
With inputs from agencies
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